That surprises me, LYY, as all the Americans I've known were very polite.
Saying please and thankyou becomes a habit if it's taught from babyhood. My children and grandchildren were taught it, mainly by example as we were always as polite to them as we expected them to be. One thing though - they were taught to say "Thank you" and not the dreadful "Ta" and they were also taught to say "Hello". It makes my toes curl when I hear the mother of a small child saying to it, "Say hiya".
